MPH: Red Bull caught cheating? It absolutely, categorically, was not

Ok, so it’s clear now – finally, after two days of sensationalist claims and firm rebuffs – what the Red Bull floor height story is really about.

Let me explain the facts and you can make up your own mind.

There would be a substantial qualifying performance gain to be had if you could raise the front floor height between qualifying and race. Especially with current ground effect cars. The last few millimetres of the small gap between floor and track surface can energise the whole underfloor massively. But if you run it too low in the race you will wear out the plank below the permitted 10% depth – which is a disqualification offence.  As is changing the setting of the floor between qualifying and race.

The Red Bull, unlike the other cars on the grid, has two mechanisms which can change the front floor height. There’s the conventional one accessed from beneath the car – and an additional one accessed from inside the cockpit. The first one is what would be used to change the floor height mid practice session, for example. The second one is used to give a more fine-tuned fit between floor and chassis when a new floor is fitted. It involves removing the nose, removing the heel supports of the pedals, then having one mechanic submerge himself head-first into the cockpit while another stands above the nose with the adjustment tool. The guy with his head in the cockpit aligns it precisely by sight, guiding the guy outside with the adjuster.

This mechanism has been on all Red Bulls of the last three years at least – and is on the FIA open-source parts list, ie the list of parts which teams must supply drawings of so that other teams can copy if they wish. It was a regulation introduced as a cost-saving measure at the beginning of the hybrid regulations.